


cat outta the bag

by jujubes



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 02:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12718053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujubes/pseuds/jujubes
Summary: Home is two pairs of slippers by the door: mine, of course, but more importantly,yours.





	cat outta the bag

**Author's Note:**

> a quick drabble thrown together between classes for chlochlo my sweet potato =^.^=

 

 

“Eonu-yah.”

The hair on the back of Wonwoo’s neck stands on end, and a muscle over his shoulder blades twitches.

Normally, the sound of Junhui’s voice settles him, vibrations sliding comfortably over Wonwoo’s skin. Any other day, it would take at least two calls of his name to catch Wonwoo’s attention, and then he might vaguely acknowledge Jun with a distracted “Mm?”, eyes still focused on the novel in his lap, at least until Junhui prodded at him enough that Wonwoo would finally turn, amused, to grant Junhui the attention he so desperately sought.

But today, Junhui doesn’t draw out the syllables of Wonwoo’s name, there’s no fond “Wonwon~” nickname, and the impatience in Junhui’s tone rubs like coarse sandpaper against Wonwoo’s ear canals, rough and unfamiliar.

Wonwoo swallows. He slides his palm over the page of his book and allows to cover to fall over the back of his hand before lifting his eyes to see Junhui standing at the entryway with his arms folded over his chest, weight shifted over his left leg while his right foot taps ominously against the wooden floorboards. Any menacing effect of his stance is completely negated by the oversized cartoon cat faces on his fuzzy slippers. Similarly, the pout on Junhui’s face, wavy lips drawn tight, eyebrows creased together, comes off far from threatening.

‘ _Cute_ ,’ Wonwoo’s brain helpfully supplies. Junhui probably doesn’t even realize how adorable he looks like that. Definitely doesn’t, considering how often he allows himself to be pulled into Wonwoo’s schemes to purposefully irritate him just so Wonwoo can enjoy the deliciously endearing annoyed expression Junhui dons. Like a cartoon character, with his large, earnest eyes, blinking with deepest sincerity. But Wonwoo’s fondness is quickly replaced by concern, because he hadn’t done anything consciously to provoke Junhui, not this time.

“Eonu-yah,” Junhui repeats, once Wonwoo’s looking at him with a blank and, hopefully, innocent looking expression. “Were you reading while taking out the trash? Last night?”

When Junhui gets emotional, his pronunciation gets exaggerated, and Wonwoo can’t help but repeat the way Junhui enunciates the words in his head, wishing he had a tape recorder so he could play it back to himself over and over again whenever he wished.

“Wonwoo?”

“Um,” Wonwoo says, changing tracks quickly to think about doing chores last night instead of how much he wants to reach out and pet Junhui’s head. “No, I don’t think so. It was already dark outside so I don’t think I could have seen anything even if I wanted to read.”

Junhui squints at him and Wonwoo’s heart spontaneously grows wings that flutter quickly in his chest. It’s frankly dangerous for Junhui to look like that. Just for Junhui’s face to be the way it is. Wonwoo wants to tell him that this is why he jokes about Junhui being ugly when he drives sometimes, so that way Junhui will angrily bury his head down and stare at his phone screen, so Wonwoo doesn’t get distracted every time he looks into the side mirror on the passenger side of the car catching a glance of Junhui’s handsome features. But saying that out loud that might feed Junhui’s ego a tiiiiny bit too much.

“What?” Wonwoo asks defensively. “Why do you ask?” Luckily, his voice seems to drown out the way his heart is flitting about, knocking against his ribcage.

Junhui uncrosses his arms to place one hand on his hips. The other goes to his lips, and he taps a finger lightly over his mouth while he speaks. “Do you remember three months ago, when you’d done the laundry on a Sunday night and I had a meeting the next morning but all my white dress shirts were slightly pink because you’d washed your red boxers with the whites?” Junhui smiles then, a bright toothy smile, and, okay, Wonwoo tilts his head and sucks in some air between his teeth, yeah, that’s actually a little bit frightening.

“It was an accident. I was reading and got distracted—”

“—Exactly! So I assumed it was an accident and you were reading and got distracted last night when you took out the trash and forgot to tie off the bag. But! You tell me you weren’t reading.”

The other thing Junhui does when he gets emotional is he speaks really really quickly, without taking any breaths or pauses in-between phrases, and that, combined with his agitation, leaves him breathing a little heavier, nostrils flaring. Like an agitated cat. The image is reinforced by the messiness of Junhui’s hair, windblown from his trip home. Wonwoo wants to comb it down with his fingers the same way you’d pet a cat, and maybe give him a light head massage between the ears.

“ _Well_?” Junhui asks impatiently, “What gives?”

Wonwoo shrugs, expression passive. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I definitely tied it up before leaving it out.”

“Then why is there plastic everywhere out on the kerb?!” Junhui demands, both hands on his hips by this point. “I came back and everything was a mess! I had to put all the recycling back in the bag again and—”

“—You cleaned it all up already?” Wonwoo interrupts. He smiles softly, eyelids low. “Thanks babe.”

All of a sudden, Junhui’s demeanour changes. “I– Wha? Yeah, I…Um…Yeah…” Junhui blushes something fierce and his imposing body language turns in on itself, his hands clasping in front of him as he lowers his chin and stares down at his fluffy white kitty slippers. “Right…uh…I’m just gonna go now,” Junhui says quickly.

Wonwoo rests his chin in one hand as he watches Junhui retreat, the shuffle of his slippers scratching conspicuously against the floorboards. The slanted smile on Wonwoo’s face grows wider, exposing teeth. Angry or abashed, Junnie really is terribly cute. And to think, a single term of endearment could leave him so speechless after they’d been living together for years.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Just under one week later, Wonwoo wakes up in the middle of the night feeling punched in the gut. The sensation isn’t too far off from what’s really happened, which is that Junhui’s kicked him in the thigh. His feet are _cold_ , and Wonwoo does not have enough thigh to soften the blow whatsoever.

“Whazzappening?” Wonwoo mutters into the dark bedroom, eyes only open a crack, brain still stuck in the wonderful dream he was having that involved a big comfy couch, stargazing, and a fluffy maine coon who sounded suspiciously like Junhui whenever the cat meowed. Just about as warm in Wonwoo’s lap too.

“Shh!!” Junhui whispers, his freezing cold toes still pressed against Wonwoo’s leg. “Do you hear that?”

Wonwoo doesn’t hear anything. He doesn’t _want_ to hear anything. He wants to go back to sleep because it’s either too late or too early for this, and Junhui is radiating warmth. Wonwoo rolls over onto his side and lopes an arm around Junhui’s torso, only to be kicked at again. The second bruise on his thigh is just as painful as the first, but it does have the added effect of waking Wonwoo up a bit.

Then, he hears it. A very faint sound, light and lacking any rhythm, but vaguely reminiscent of someone hitting bongo drums from very very far away.

“What is that?”

Junhui thumps Wonwoo on the chest. “That’s what I’m asking _you_! Well, I’m going to find out.” He throws off the covers, letting chillier air seep underneath. The mattress groans a bit when Junhui jumps to his feet and in the midst of it, Wonwoo’s arm gets thrown off and he’s rolled onto his back.

The cold night air tickles at Wonwoo’s shins and he shivers. “Wait, Jun-ah—” But Junhui’s tugged a sweater over his head and out the door before Wonwoo’s managed to hobble into an upright position out of bed. Well, it’s okay. No one else is going to see Junhui’s sweater not pulled down quite right at this time of night, and Wonwoo rather finds Junhui’s disarray endearing. He yawns, shoves his feet into his slippers (matching black cats to Junhui’s white ones), and shuffles outside slowly, bumping into walls whenever he forgets to open his eyes all the way.

“Junnie?” Wonwoo calls out, once he makes it past the front door. It’s even chillier outside, so Wonwoo tucks his hands under his arms and makes his way down the front drive. “Did you figure out what was making the noise?”

Junhui’s crouched out by the front gate, jumper still bunched up around his belly, and instead of answer Wonwoo’s question with coherent words, he bursts into laughter. Loud uncontrollable laughter. It carries enough in the silent, dead air of the night that it will probably wake up the whole street the way he’s going. But the sound of it is too nice to Wonwoo’s ears for him to shush him, and he watches, bemused, while Junhui laughs on his own, leaving Wonwoo out of the loop.

Finally, Junhui seems to run out of breath and straightens, standing with his back to Wonwoo.

“Well? Care to explain?”

“It’s a cat,” Junhui proclaims brightly, turning around to show off the ball of fluff in his arms. It’s too dark out to see with just the streetlamps and light of the moon illuminating a corona around Junhui’s silhouette, but Wonwoo can make out two beady eyes at the level of Junhui’s sternum. And then the cat meows to confirm, yep, a cat alright. “The noise was the cat digging through our garbage and tossing out all the recycling. Must’ve also gotten into the bags while I was still at work last week.”

“So it wasn’t me being distracted from reading.”

Junhui hums. “Not this time, apparently.”

He can’t make out Junhui’s face, but Wonwoo can tell that he’s smiling. “Well now that you’ve solved the mystery, can we go back to bed? I’m sleepy…” Wonwoo turns around after that, making his way back to the front door.

“Wait, Wonwon?”

Even though they’re out in the wind, the sound of Junhui’s voice calling his name out like that, filled with affection and imbued with his cutest charms, warms Wonwoo right up. “Yeah Junnie?” He turns back around to where Junhui’s still holding the cat.

“Can we keep the cat?”

“Is there a collar or tag?”

A pause. “No, I don’t think so…Please? It’s a really fluffy cat. I’ll even let you choose a name, if you want to.”

“Hmm…might still have a home. We should check with the humane society tomorrow.”

There’s a soft whining noise, and it takes Wonwoo a second to realize that it’s coming from Junhui and not the cat. “Okay but what if it really really really really _is_ a stray? Can we adopt the cat then? Please Wonwon? It’s such a nice kitty…”

Wonwoo doesn’t look at the cat. He doesn’t think about the cat. He doesn’t consider the cat at all, not what living with a cat would be like, not the positives like having another warm cuddle partner nor the negatives like having a housemate that sheds hair all over the furniture. How can Wonwoo think about cats when Junhui is right there, pleading with him so endearingly?

“Yeah Junnie. If there’s no other owner, we can keep the cat.”

Junhui cheers, a very loud whooping sound that once again will probably wake up the neighbours, but like the first time, Wonwoo can’t bring himself to care. He can see the happiness radiating off Junhui, can hear it, maybe even taste it. Can definitely feel it, where it’s blooming warmth in Wonwoo’s chest and giving him a tingly feeling under his skin.

Then Junhui’s running up to him, and then standing right in front of Wonwoo, and then leaning over the cat between them and kissing Wonwoo right there in their driveway. And even through the kiss Wonwoo can tell how bright Junhui’s smile is, the kind of bright that could light up an entire Christmas tree in December, and Wonwoo can’t contain the burst of giddiness he feels along with him, swept up in Junhui’s delight. Junhui’s mouth is soft and warm and always, _always_ like coming home.

It’s a good kitty that can net Wonwoo kisses like this.

“You have to give the cat a bath though. It’s been going through our garbage bags.”

Wonwoo means it as a joke, but Junhui seems happy enough to take it seriously.

“Oooooh…that sounds fun! Are you sure you don’t want to help?”

Wonwoo stares. “You know that cats don’t like water, right?”

Junhui shakes his head and rocks the cat cradled in his arms. “Even if the cat doesn’t like water, it likes me! And I like the cat. We’ll get along fine! Right, kitty?” With that he’s wandering back into the house, talking to the cat the whole time like it understands human language. Despite being a stranger, the cat does seem to like Junhui a surprising lot. Maybe it could understand Junhui, who reminded Wonwoo of a cat more often than not himself.

Wonwoo’s still staring after Junhui’s back with unbearable fondness when Junhui pops his head back out the front door. “Ah, don’t worry, by the way! Of course I love you more, Wonwon~”

The door closes behind him again.

It’s a silly kitty that doesn’t know Wonwoo loves Junhui most.

 

 

 

 


End file.
